


Last Night Tavi

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Bed Sharing(lil bit), F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fill, these two are so fun together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 00:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11589690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Tavi and Aloth get that drink she mentioned at the end of Easy.





	Last Night Tavi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haledamage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haledamage/gifts).



> Based on several prompts from haledamage for the Pillars of Eternity Fic Swap 2017. She sent me a bunch and I loved them so much I used three in one fic: Tavi and Aloth have to share a bed, for REASONS, Drunken shenanigans, and "Aloth is always biting his lip. Tavi finds it very distracting". Heavy on the drunken shenanigans, light on the bed sharing. I'll have to rectify that in another fic. (yes, the title riffs off a Psych episode. I couldn't resist)

There wasn’t much in this world that Tavi considered distracting. (And yes, awareness of her surroundings was distinctly different from being distracted) High on that very short list, however, was the way Aloth bit his lower lip whenever he was concentrating or deep in thought or both.

Very much like he was doing right now, in fact. His gaze was fixed on the mug sitting in front of him, as if hoping to find the solution to whatever problem he was worrying in its depths. Even as Tavi set down the small wooden fox she’d been whittling, finally accepting there was no way she could concentrate with him doing... _ **that**_ , he sighed a little, brows drawing into a worried frown.

“Whatcha worryin’ about this time, city slicker?” Tavi asked, pocketing her knife and figurine before taking a drink from her tankard.

He turned to look at her, gaze lingering on the bandage wrapped around her hand and arm. “Not so much worrying about anything in particular as it’s truly sinking in how close a call today was.”

She shrugged, unable to stop a glance of her own at the still-red cut along his cheekbone. “We’ve fought more’n that before.”

“Yes, when there were _six_ of us,” Aloth countered. “Not _two_. You said yourself, Tavi, if you’d been alone you probably would have run.”

“But I wasn’t alone. I had you.”

“And it was still a close thing.” He picked absently at a nick in his mug rather than drink the contents and bit his lip again. “You... you almost bled to death-”

“And you got poisoned,” Tavi cut him off bluntly. “But we’re still alive, and far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.”

“I do seem to recall simply mentioning that I prefer you alive,” Aloth said with a wry smile. “Perhaps I should be more specific in the future.”

“Perhaps you should,” she laughed. She finished off her drink and motioned the barmaid for a refill. “Don’t get me wrong, I am pretty fond of livin’. Even more fond of _you_ livin’. But my point here, city slicker, is we survived this one, so there’s no benefit on dwellin’ on how badly it _could have_ ended. We’re alive, if slightly worse for wear,” she acknowledged, her knee twinging as she shifted in her chair.

“So let’s just get on with the business of living?” Aloth finished for her, reasonably safe in his guess at where she’d been going with her little speech.

“Zacktly,” Tavi nodded, only feeling the slightest bit tipsy. “I’ll drink to that.”

He chuckled fondly. “You’ll drink to just about anything.”

“S’true,” she agreed easily. “But, c’mon, survivin’ attempt number twenty three on my life’s as good a reason as any.”

“Very true,” Aloth conceded, smile finally reaching his eyes.

Still, Tavi knew he was still nursing his first round as she was starting in on her third. But that was probably a good thing. One of them should be sober, and it sure as shit wasn’t her.

>><<

She was awakened by a headache, and with one of the worst hangovers she’d had in years. _Since I left Silversteel._ The thought dredged up memories that made her head hurt worse, and Tavi groaned as she forced her eyes open. It took a few seconds to blink things into focus, despite the aid of the morning sunlight streaming through the window.

Focus brought with it more confusion. As her vision unblurred, Tavi was greeted by the sight of a nightstand, bare walls, a fairly solid door, all the trappings of your typical inn room. Including an undisturbed and very empty bed between her and the door. _How... Where..._

Hylea’s tits, even forming full thoughts hurt. But the old ingrained instincts triggered by unfamiliar surroundings kicked in, and Tavi rolled onto her back and started to push herself upright. She was stopped halfway by two things-- another splitting pulse of headache, and the sluggish realization she’d rolled over almost on top of Aloth, who had somehow managed to fit himself between her and the wall despite the narrowness of the bed and was sleeping with one arm wrapped around her waist. Well, _had_ been sleeping. Tavi’s flurry of motion dragged him awake as well.

To his credit, he woke much more smoothly than she had, despite nearly getting a face-ful of elbow. “How’s the hangover?”

She just groaned and flopped one arm over her eyes as she tried to sink further into the pillow. “Mornin’ t’ you, too, city slicker.”

“That bad, hm?” he asked, voice pitched low in sympathy.

Tavi groaned again. “No talking...”

The bed creaked and Aloth’s hair brushed against her shoulder as he reached over her to retrieve something from the nightstand. “Fortunately, I’m prepared for this eventuality,” he whispered, and pressed a small glass vial into her uninjured hand.

Sighing at the effort, she shifted her arm and pried open one eye just enough to squint at him. “I’ll bite. What is it?”

“Something for your headache. I had a feeling it was going to be bad,” Aloth said, letting his arm rest across her stomach again, fingers absently rubbing soft circles just above her hip.

Only half believing it would actually work, but willing to try anything at this point, Tavi reluctantly sat up, flicked out the stopper, and drank it fast enough the bitter taste barely registered. It took a couple minutes, but whatever it was _did_ dull the edges of her hangover, at least enough she could remain upright without too much effort. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Aloth nodded, sitting up as well. He shifted position so he was perched cross-legged and facing her. Tavi very nearly kissed him for not making her look toward the window to talk to him.

“So,” she began, keeping her volume low in consideration of her lingering headache, “why’re we crammed in this bed together when there’s another perfectly good one right there?”

“I... may have been worried about you,” he said slowly, looking sheepish.

“Why?”

Rather than answer, Aloth picked at the blanket for a moment before meeting her question with one of his own. “What do you remember from last night?”

That couldn’t be a good sign. “Nothin’ past round three. Why? What’d I do?”

He bit his lip, and Tavi got so lost staring at his face she almost missed it when he started talking. “Quite a lot. I’m not sure where to begin...”

“How ‘bout you just go in the order things happened, city slicker,” she groaned, flopping back into the nest of pillows.

“As you wish,” he shrugged, fingers idly playing with the ends of his hair as he began. “You were fine through the first three rounds, as you know, but round four was when you started threatening to stand on the table and sing-”

“Oh no.” _I have a **bad** feeling-_

“-and five rounds was when you actually _did_.”

_**FUCK.**_  “Oh _no._ I sound like a rusty hinge when I’m sober, I pity all of you who had to hear that. What did I even sing?”

“Well.” Aloth winced sympathetically. “I’m not entirely sure. You weren’t really singing _words_ for the majority of it.”

“ _Fuuuck_ ,” Tavi groaned. “ _ **Please**_ tell me you didn’t let me drink anymore after that.”

He hesitated. “I wasn’t going to. But you kept insisting just one more, just one more, and you’re even more stubborn drunk than you are sober, so... round six was when you almost started a bar brawl.”

“That sounds like me,” she conceded with a wry smile. “Haven’t done it in _years_ , but... did whoever I went after deserve it, or do I need to go make a heartfelt apology sometime today?”

“You could say the former...” Aloth hemmed.

Tavi sat up and squinted at him. _He’s so easy to read_. “Which of us did he compare to a plaything?”

Aloth’s surprise was there and gone in a flicker, followed by a sheepish smile as he tugged on a narrow lock of hair. “How did--  Me. Followed by offering his services when you were ready to have a real man.”

She scowled. “Berath’s bony ass, tell me I decked the bastard.”

“Twice,” he nodded. “That’s when his friends realized what was going on and looked ready to get involved, so we were... asked to leave. I was also worried you were going to tear the stitches in your hand,” he admitted, “I would’ve stopped you anyway.”

“And that’s why I love ya.” Tavi glanced down at the bandage covering her knuckles and winced at the fresh bloodstains peeking through. “Might be too late for that, but I ‘ppreciate the thought.” She pulled him closer by the front of his shirt and stole a quick kiss before letting go. “Any more drunken shenanigans, or did I behave myself after that?”

Aloth gave her a skeptical look. “Tavi, you don’t behave yourself when you’re sober.”

“True.” She raked her uninjured hand through her hair. “Continue.”

“There isn’t much more, don’t worry,” he assured her. “You kept going in zigzags, and tried to walk along the rim of the fountain in the middle of the city.”

“D’you mean what I think you mean by _tried_?”

“You fell in,” Aloth confirmed, biting his lip to keep a smile in check, and a pulse of something warm and fluttery curled in Tavi’s gut. “Or, well, started to.”

“Bullshit,” she groused. “I have _excellent_ balance. Even when I’m drunk.” _Tested it plenty of times, too._ But that way lay thoughts she didn’t want to think.

He shook his head. “It was nothing to do with your balance and everything to do with trying to rest your entire weight on a leg that suffered a crossbow quarrel to the knee less than ten hours beforehand.”

“I was just a mess last night, wasn’t I?” she muttered.

“Yes. But I didn’t mind. Not if...” he hesitated. “Tavi, was yesterday really the _twenty third_ time Those People tried to kill you?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Usually didn’t hafta deal with that many, though. Like I told you, there was only one other time that was such a close call. That time I ran--well, hobbled off and hid--but yesterday I didn’t have to. And I still walked away from it ‘cause I had you with me.” She reached over and brushed her fingers against his arm just below the bandages wrapped around his bicep. “Dunno what I’d do without you, Aloth.”

“Fall into fountains, I expect,” he teased, wry but quiet, reaching to cover her hand with his own.

Tavi snorted and rolled her eyes, hair falling back in her face as she laughed. “Asshole. I thought ruinin’ touchin’ moments with sarcasm was _my_ thing.” She cocked her head and shot him a questioning look. “Though if I almost fell in the fountain b’cause my knee gave out, how’d we get to th’ inn? I can’t imagine walkin was easy for m-” she narrowed her eyes at him. “ _No_.”

“Piggyback isn’t _that_ hard, Tavi,” Aloth shrugged. “And I’m-”

“Stronger than you look, I know. Still manage to forget it all the damn time.” She tucked her hair behind her ears again. “Anyway. Was reliving my drunken shenanigans an attempted dodge, or just a really roundabout way of explainin’ why we’re sharin’ one bed rather than each in our own?”

“The latter,” he said. “Given your... other shenanigans, as you put it, I was worried you might wander off without supervision and do serious damage to yourself or others.”

“An ignoble fate for the Watcher of Caed Nua,” Tavi deadpanned, playing with the loose end of the bandages wrapping her forearm.

“It was less big picture concern and more me not liking the thought of the world without you in it,” Aloth admitted, smiling as he leaned forward to still her hand.

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Tavi murmured, half teasing and half serious. “So, what, you squeezed in with me and wrapped an arm around me to keep me in bed?” She smirked. “City slicker...”

Aloth rolled his eyes at the look she was giving him. “It was nothing like that and you know it-”

“Yeah, but you’re fun to tease.”

He ignored her interjection, though his ears did go pink. “I simply figured on the slight chance you _didn’t_ remain dead to the world until morning, you’d wake me as well, and I could, well...”

“Keep me out of trouble?” Tavi supplied with a grin.

“Basically, yes.” Aloth looked away, out the window, biting his lip.

_Gods damn it all, he is **way** too distracting when he does that_. “Thank you.” She waited until he turned to face her again before continuing. “It’s been a really long time since I had someone who cared so much about what happened to me. It’s nice.”

“I could say the same to you,” Aloth said quietly. He shifted position, leaning closer. “I very much appreciate having you in my life.”

“Stop bein’ flowery an’ kiss me already, Corfiser,” Tavi growled playfully, sitting forward as well, the unraveling bandage forgotten.

“Very romanti-” Aloth started to tease, before she curved her hand around the back of his neck and tugged him into the desired kiss.

“How long do we have this room?” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.

“At least one more night, but Tavi-”

“Relax, city slicker, I’m not thinkin’ anything like that,” Tavi assured him, hand sliding from his cheek to rest against a suddenly tense shoulder. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve shared a bed without anything frisky goin’ on. Wonderful as that whatever-you-gave-me was, I still have a headache. I was askin’ more to know how long I have before I have to act like there’s not a xaurip playin’ drums in my skull.”

“Oh, well, in that respect you have plenty of time,” Aloth replied. “But there _are_ things we should do.”

“Like what?” Tavi asked, stealing one last quick kiss before she laid back down in the soft cradle of her pillow.

“Like a return visit to the healer so he can rebandage your arm and hand.” His fingers brushed over the bandages in question, loose and dingy after her antics the night before. “And we really should tell a local authority about what happened so they can dispose of the bodies, at least.”

“Or,” Tavi countered, eyes closed. “ _Or_. We wait for th’ fuckin’ banging in my head to go away, go back ourselves, and pile and burn the bodies. I know you know spells that involve fire.”

“A compromise, then,” Aloth said, voice lowering in pitch as he lay down next to her. “We wait a few more hours for your headache to lessen, if not go away entirely, then inform the authorities but take care of the bodies ourselves.”

“Deal,” Tavi agreed without hesitation. “Long as we can just lay here in silence for a while first.”

And that’s exactly what they did


End file.
